California @ Colorado preview
T-Mobile Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 24, 2019 ) Colorado 68, California 59
Two of the Pac-12’s hottest teams meet in the opening round of the conference tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when Colorado takes on California. The fifth-seeded Buffaloes won three straight and eight of their last 10 to close out the regular season while the 12th-seeded Golden Bears also have reeled off three straight wins – their only Pac-12 victories after 0-15 conference start – to bring some momentum to Sin City.
Colorado overcame a 2-6 Pac-12 start to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference, and suddenly a four-wins-in-four-days scenario to win the conference – just as the Buffs did as sixth seed in 2012 – doesn’t seem so outlandish. “You’re going to have to go win that tournament; the tournament isn’t going to be given to you,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said earlier this week. “But it could be anybody, and it could be the Buffaloes because we’re playing well right now, and I don’t think there’s anybody in our league we can’t beat.” Understandably, things are also a lot brighter in Berkeley these days as well after Cal not only snapped a 23-game Pac-12 winless streak with a 76-73 victory over regular-season champion Washington on March 1 but then also followed with wins over Washington State (76-69) and rival Stanford (64-59) to close out the regular season. “We’ve always continued to fight,” Bears junior guard Paris Austin said following Saturday’s road win over the Cardinal. “We always stay together, and we feel like we can beat anybody. So going into the Pac-12 Tournament, we have good energy and we’re excited to play.”
TV: 5:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network
ABOUT COLORADO (19-11): The Buffs finished with two All-Pac 12 first-team selections (sophomores McKinley Wright and Tyler Bey) for the first time since 2013. The 6-7 Bey, the team’s leading scorer (13.4 points per game) and rebounder (9.6), also was named the league’s most-improved player after he shot 55.9 percent from the field and finished tied for the conference lead with 14 double-doubles, including eight in his final 10 games. Wright (13.0 points, team-leading 4.9 assists), guard Shane Gatling (10.5 points) and forward Lucas Siewert (10.0) also average double figures for Colorado, which leads the Pac-12 with a 5.6 average rebounding margin but finished next-to-last in 3-point accuracy at 32.3 percent.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA (8-22): Forward Justice Sueing (14.5 points, team-leading 6.1 rebounds) and guards Austin (11.7 points, team-leading 4.4 assists), Darius McNeill (11.2) and Matt Bradley (10.6) all averaged double figures for the Bears, but it was the play of freshman center Connor Vanover (7.4 points, 3.0 rebounds) which provided a spark down the stretch. The 7-3 Vanover averaged 17.3 points and six rebounds during Cal’s three-game win streak and saved his best for last, scoring a career-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting while pulling down five rebounds and blocking six shots against Stanford. The Bears, though, rank last in the conference in scoring (69.0 points) and average rebounding margin (minus-6.6) but are averaging the fewest turnovers (11.3) per outing in the league.
TIP-INS
1. Colorado has won three straight in the series, including a 68-59 road win Jan. 24 in the teams’ only meeting of the regular season.
2. Siewert scored a game-high 18 points and Bey added 17 points and 14 rebounds as the Buffs shot 50 percent in the first meeting and had a 37-24 rebounding advantage. Sueing and Austin scored 13 points apiece to pace Cal.
3. The Colorado-California winner will face fourth-seeded Oregon State in the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon.
PREDICTION: Colorado 74, California 69